Railway-track spike



Patented den. 2, 1923.

'UNHTED STATES GEORGE W. BOSCHKE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

RAILWAY-TRACK SPIKE.

Application filed May 8, 1922. Serial No. 559,399.

To all ID/L072), it may concern:

Be it known that I, Grzonon \V. Boscrriiii, a citizen of the FnitedStates, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and StateofCalifornia. have invented certain new and useful .Improvements inRailway- Track Spikes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of railway-track spikes. The object ofmy invention is to provide a track-spike whiclrwhen driven in a suitablysized'bored hole in the tie will not only truly engage, in the customarymanner, the base of the rail and the standard tie plate, but will alsodrive true without rupture or injury to the wood, a danger which,particularly in the case of creosoted ties, leaves the wood open todecay and defeats the very purpose of creosoting.

To this end. my invention consists in the novel track-spike which Ishall now fully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of my trackspike.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a plan, looking at the spike from its point upwardly.

Fig. 11 is a section on the line 4--1 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-.5 of F ig'. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section on the .line 66 of Fig. 1.

The spike is formed with a head 1 for engaging the base of the rail.Below the head, for a short distance, the upper portion 2 of the body ofthe spikeis square in cross section, a seen in Fig. 4, this portionbeing adapted for fitting in the square hole of the standard tie plate.Below this square portion 2 the main body 3 of the spike is round incross section throughout the greater portion of its circumference, theremaining portion being straight as in Fig. 5, thus leaving on one sideof the round body a fiat surface 4 as seen in Fig. 1. The body of thespike terminates in a conical point 5 which is full round incross-section, Fig. 6, though the flattened surface 4 may, though notnecessarily. extend slightly into the upper portion of the point, asseen in Fig. 1.

It will now be seen that the head 1 and square upper part 2 of thisspike are adapted for their functions to truly engage the rail base, andthe square hole in the tie plate, respectively, so that the presentstandard tie plates and joint construction can be maintained. Theflattening of the back of the .round body causes the spike to drivesquare to a finish, and without rupture or injury to the walls of thehole, so that said head and square upper portion will truly engage theparts with which they are associated,

without the aid of a turning Wrench. The round point of the spike willdrive true and without injury to the wood, a result not possible withchisel pointed spikes, which will not follow the bored hole, and willtend to out and rupture its walls, leaving the wood opento decay. This,in creosoted ties especially, is a serious menace, as it defeats thevery purpose of creosoting.

I claim A railway-track spike having a rail-engaging head, and a bodyhaving its upper portion square in cross section. to engage the tieplate, its main portion round in cross section with a flattened side inalinement with one of the faces of said upper squared portion, andaconical point circular in cross section.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

' GEORGE W. BOSCHKE.

